NIRA DI Opens Season With Many Contenders
NIRA DI Opens Season With Many Contenders
The NIRA season kicks off this weekend with DI teams already deep into their conference season.
While the lower divisions kick off their league seasons in a few weeks, it's all on for DI right now. With Dartmouth having graduated some players and other contenders getting more experience, this could be a wide open season.
Dartmouth at Penn State (Non-Conference Game)
All NIRA teams are NCAA varsity but they do have the NCAA OK to play a couple of non-NCAA teams. Not every teams takes advantage of this but those that do can certainly benefit from it. Two-time defending champs Dartmouth visit Penn State on Friday evening. This is the first time that Dartmouth's varsity team has visited State College. Riding an 18-game winning streak Dartmouth has graduated a pretty special group of leaders and talented players, including Ariana Ramsey (MVP of the 2022 NIRA final), flyhalf Kristin Bitter, capped Eagle Emily Henrich, and the powerful Lauren Ferridge and Sophia Haley.
So this will be an important leadership opportunity for the new cadre of seniors. Nicole Ihensekhien, Nyah Cordero, and Sadie Schier are the captains this year. Penn State is in D1 Elite and struggled in that league last year. However, they responded by taking on bigger and bigger challenges. A spring trip to France was hugely beneficial. They lost their two games there but they were very competitive and the returning players will embrace this opening week challenge with confidence as a result.
Harvard at Quinnipiac
A couple of Harvard's best players last season we freshmen. Now sophomores Tiahna Padilla, Cameron Fields, and Lennox London bring speed and intelligence and now a year's worth of experience to the team. That trio, by the way, accounted for 18 of Harvard's 43 tries in 15s rugby last season. They are bolstered by key seniors such as Brogan Mior (who, it seems, something like a week ago was one of those up-and-coming freshmen) and junior fullback Chloe Headland.
Watch Live Kickoff Sept 2 5PM ET
Harvard has a nice crop of new players, too, and are potentially poised for a very good run for the next few years.
Fully conscious that they haven't beaten Harvard since 2013, the Quinnipiac Bobcats will be leaning on a solid group of older players, with all-NIRA forward Gracie Cartwright back for a grad year, and all-NIRA lock Anna van Dyk back for her senior year. And really it's that forward pack, with seniors Grace Dagenais, Hannah Pfersch, and Taylor Lea all there, that could turn the game Quinnipiac's way.
Princeton at Brown
Having worked their way through their first varsity season in 2022, Princeton is looking for some improvement steps this year. Are they favored against Brown? Probably not. But Head Coach Josie Ziluca has been focusing on team unity and teamwork, and working from the building blocks installed last year. It will be step-by-step, but that's OK. They have plenty of players who are returning with some NIRA experience, headed bby current sophomore Amelia Clarke, who suited up for the USA U20s this summer. They have added 12 freshmen in what is their first real recruiting class.
Watch Live Kickoff Sept 2 4PM ET
Brown sees the terrific Mahdia Parker graduate but with Nikki Lynch, Akilah Cathey, Noelle Lewis, and the goalkicking skills of Julia Murray they have plenty of experienced talent.
"I think it definitely will be a collective effort of trying to all piece together her skill set," Murray said of Parker. "All of us working together to create a Mahdia but I don't think one person's going to be able to take her place."
That might actually be a good thing.
Head Coach Rosalind Chou said the team has started to adopt their systems and adjusted to the new coaching staff. The new players are all ready to contribute, she added in a preseason interview.
"What I'd really like them to do is for them to start establishing a kind of swagger," added Chou.
Army at Sacred Heart
Certainly the breakout team from 2022 was Sacred Heart, which tied Brown and improved their standings placement. They return Alyssa Cunningham who made the USA U23 team and has been an excellent attacking option and leader at fullback. The highly-touted Woods sisters out of Eagle HS in Idaho have signed on and they are excellent additions to prop and No. 8. This is a smart group (15 on the NIRA All-Academic team) and have seen what it takes to achieve in this league.
Watch Live Kickoff Sept. 1 6PM ET
West Point has been a bit frustrated of late with some almost-but-not-quite seasons (finalists 2019 and 2021; semifinalists 2022). Some very talented players—Olivia Popp, Sophia Linder, Emma Gamboa, and Alissa Eisenhart in the backs, Taylor Driver, Alex Ferrance, Molly Murtagh, and Jeannie Skidmore in the forwards—are back. The new players are very good, but there's a solid veteran group. Remember over the summer when the USA U20s beat Wales 28-27 thanks to a perfect goalkicking day bby Eisenhart. She has icewater flowing through her and a consistent goalkicker who makes the easy ones and the tough ones is gold in women's college rugby.
Queens at Navy
Queens won DII and has moved to DI. Navy won the fall CRAA D1 club championship and now moves fully into NIRA. So it's new territory for both.
Watch Live Kickoff Sept. 2 Noon ET
For Navy the good news is that the exceptional Marissa Meyer is back at center. She led Navy in tries by a huge margin and was a defensive force as well. Flanker Morgan McPeak, and prop Sydney Boutz provide senior leadership and experience. Charlotte d'Halluin, Siena Hall, and Megan Leitz broke out in 7s last spring and should be danger women we'll keep an eye on.
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Queens, meanwhile, has some work to do to move up a division. For Head Coach Dana Maschisi it'll be a case of "what have you done for me lately?" Which is a shame because she did a superb job to get the Royals to the DII title.
The work to succeed in DI began last year, said Meschisi. That's why they won in DII. "Our focus has been on raising our skillset to that of our DI peers. We've anticipated playing more technically sound teams and have adjusted our coaching staff to meet those standards."
Mount St. Mary's at LIU
Former Queens University assistant coach Maggie Myles is in her first season as Head Coach at Mount St. Mary's, with the hugely experienced Lance Connolly assisting. With Connolly there you know the Mount will have a good scrum. This team is a sophomore-heavy squad and that gives Myles some time to work toward something.
Center Sankara Price, wing Kameka President, fullback ZyQuaria Climons, and wing Katherine Stern all come back and they will be hugely important from a leadership standpoint.
Watch Live Kickoff Sept. 2 1PM ET
LIU was building its roster last year and Head Coach Joey Rasmus has done a good job bolstering a roster that already had talent. Tai Sherman, RJ Scott, and Gina Pollice are very dangerous attackers. The Sharks have added some savvy freshman in the forwards, and they need that to ensure they can get some ball.
